Wine Diary
Vintage 2016
When flowering began on June 10th, it signalled that 2016 was one of the earliest - though not extremely early - vintages, which indeed was very promising; we had expected wines that were mature, but not heavy, and were looking forward to having the entire spectrum, from light and fresh sparkling and Grüner Veltliner wines, to outstanding, late harvest Reserve quality wines.
After a relatively damp spring, the summer proved rainy as well. It was only during the last week of August that a sunny, stable weather period began, allowing for a wonderful development of ripeness.
A very sunny and warm September was followed in early October by a cooler period with alternating dry and wet phases. The entire harvest was carried out in a highly selective way: only hand-picked and hand-sorted grapes (excuding those that were good for eating) were allowed in our wine press and used for the wines.
At the beginning of November, the last grapes from the Steinmassel, Lamm, Spiegel, Heiligenstein and other vineyards were harvested with excellent quality. On January 6th, we were able to complete the vintage 2016 (+17! ) with two Eiswein (ice wine) harvests – Riesling and Muskateller.
Due to changing weather conditions in the spring and summer, a lot of time and work was invested in the vineyards, which is why maximum grape quality was achieved. The wines of the vintage are characterized by very direct, linear fruit with grip and incredible freshness and vibrancy.
With good cellar storage, we expect this vintage to have excellent ageing potential !